Seven seeks help

In terms of ratings and profits, Channel Nine is cruising. Channel Ten, with fewer viewers overall, is content with its substantial teenage and young adult audience and is making heaps of money, too. Channel Seven, however, is in no-man's land after a disappointing - some say disastrous - 2003. And with the summer silly season about to begin and the new 2004 TV season only a few months away, all eyes are on Seven's long-heralded revamp, the first details of which were announced this week.

There are 25 new shows, an impressive line-up of movies, the 2004 Olympics in Athens and a "revitalisation" of the network's news and current affairs output, whatever that means. But given Seven's poor record this year in launching and sustaining new shows - most have failed - and the fact that its two commercial rivals have so many established and probably unchallengeable hits, it will be a long road back for Seven.

The network is targeting 25-to-54-year-old viewers, a mix of Generation Xers and baby-boomers. Nine dominates that portion of the market at present and Ten is coming second as the end of the year approaches. But Seven insists that it can win a bigger share. Its aim, at least in the short term, is not to make up the considerable gap between itself and Nine in viewer numbers - that could take years - but to get well ahead of Ten and establish itself as the uncontested second-placegetter in the ratings.

It's a big ask. Seven's list of promises for 2004 is long. A new miniseries treatment of the Azaria Chamberlain story, a series of occasional telemovies based on the novels of Shane Maloney and a drama series called Last Man Standing, which sounds like The Secret Life of Blokes. Movies acquired by Seven for 2004 include Moulin Rouge, Pearl Harbor, Bend It Like Beckham and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. There is a new Sunday night sketch comedy show, which has evolved from the semi-successful series of this year, The Big Bite. It is to be called Fast Food. Tony Squires transfers from the ABC to Seven in a new sports comedy show, Even Fatter. And there is a vague commitment to a new project for Roy and HG.

That is all well and good, as are Seven's exclusive rights to the Athens Olympics, although past experience shows that the Olympics rarely affect a network's ratings beyond the three weeks during which they are held. As soon as the Sydney Olympics finished, for example, Seven fell from the top of the ratings pile very quickly. In fact, it has been downhill ever since. No, what Seven needs are new programs, seven days a week, in early evening timeslots - when people watch the most TV. Mid to late night comedy shows, and even occasional miniseries and telemovies - no matter how good they are - cannot by themselves turn around the slowing aircraft carrier that Channel Seven has become.

Nor do blockbuster Hollywood movies rate as well as they once did. Gladiator was a huge disappointment for Ten earlier this year and they do not come much bigger than that. Viewer interest in big movies on free-to-air has waned in the past five years, with films available in cinemas, on video and then on pay TV before free-to-air networks have a chance to screen them. The best of Seven's current programs will return including, contrary to recent speculation, Harry's Practice, Surprise Chef and the quiz show Deal or No Deal. Home & Away, All Saints and Blue Heelers, all of whose ratings have softened this year, will be back in February, although it is understood that Blue Heelers, in particular, will undergo some changes to broaden its appeal among the under-40s.

But the new early evening shows outlined this week are a mixed bag. Popstars is coming back as Popstars Live, apparently with a greater live concert component, a la Australian Idol. The area of most interest, however, is what Seven calls "reality and event programming". Reality TV remains big, despite the doomsayers who believed the fad would fade this year, and Seven is going for broke with shows, some of which sound outlandish, called My Restaurant Rules (a competition between couples trying to establish a new restaurant), How Clean Is My House?, How to Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less, How Long Will You Live? and What Not to Wear, a how-to program for the style-challenged.

As distinct from "reality and event programming", there is a category that Seven calls "real life programming". In this group are more episodes of the recent Sensing Murder psychics special hosted by Rebecca Gibney. There is a new series called Forensic Investigators, in which forensic techniques are used to re-investigate "sensational crimes" in Australia's past. The Real Young Doctors will follow doctors, nurses and surgeons in their first year of work in hospitals. And The Front Line looks at those protecting us from terrorism and drug-running.

It is hard to foresee how the new line-up will go. But with most of Seven's emphasis in 2004 being on local production, it's to be hoped it works. In the '80s and '90s, Seven was the leader in local production, especially drama. The network has a chance now to reassert itself as the leader in all things Australian. We love watching ourselves, as every TV executive well knows, and that could be the key to Seven's recovery.